An innovative estate agency which ‘broke the mould’ by replacing commission for their sales staff with rewards for delivering the best customer service has won South London Business of the Year, 2011.

Young London won the prestigious Business of the Year trophy at the South London Business Awards, which were held in association with HSBC and organised by South London Business. The company had already had a big night, scooping awards for Best Small Business and Best Business for Innovation and CEO Neil Young said they were delighted to score the hat-trick.

“It’s a great honour. We just tried to do the right thing and run a business in the way we think it should be run. It came naturally to decide to change the model and put the focus on customer service, so it’s fantastic to be recognised for doing the right thing by the staff and in the right way.”



Nick McMenemy from Towergate Financial, one of the judges, said: “Young London impressed by turning on its head the traditional business model of their sector.

“Sales staff are rewarded based on customer satisfaction, not commission. The commitment to making clients feel welcome both in their new homes and in their neighbourhoods is second to none. They have also successfully embraced a wide variety of digital social media, combining both revenue generation and providing genuine support to local residents and businesses.”

Neil, along with Young London’s other directors, Sylvana Young, Michael Oakes and David MacKenzie received the prestigious honour in front of an invited audience of 500 business men and woman who attended South London Business Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony at the Park Plaza Riverbank on Thursday, June 23rd.

Young London is a Southwark based estate agency which last year found homes for more than 700 tenants in around 400 of their landlords’ properties. All of the property rented through Young London is also managed by the agency’s in-house Property Management team in order to provide both good customer service for the tenant and protect the landlord’s investment.

The business puts customer service first – publishing every month the results of its own customer service survey. Last month’s survey revealed that 100% of landlords and tenants said they’d recommend Young London and 87.5% rated their experience of using Young London as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

“It’s really important to us that we put our customers first,” said Neil. “We retain 98% of our clients each year and get almost all our new business from referrals, which is unusual in our industry, and we think that speaks for itself.”

Carole Bagnald, regional commercial director London for HSBC, who presented Young London with their Business of the Year award, said the bank was passionate about the need to support small to medium sized businesses, like Young London, as the ‘business leaders of the future’.

“This is the third year we have supported these awards and they are very special to me because of the work South London Business does supporting businesses,” she told a packed room at the Park Plaza Riverbank in London. “A recent HSBC survey showed that 62% of business leaders believe the UK will come to stand in the future for innovation and entrepreneurship.

“It is therefore important that we get behind the businesses who are here tonight, who are the leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Sir Bob Scott, chairman of awards organiser South London Business, recently re-branded as ‘Supporting Local Business’ , said the judges had been impressed by the level and quality of the entries.

“The business community in South London has a great deal to be proud of. The 2011 South London Business Awards, in association with HSBC, provides an opportunity to demonstrate what is great about business across South London and so promote economic development and growth.

Further details about the awards, as well as photographs of the night can be found at: www.slbawards.co.uk.

The full list of winners is:

• Business of the Year: Young London
• Best Small Business: Young London
• Best Medium Sized Business: dotDigital
• Best Commitment to the Community: London Horizons
• Best Business for Customer Service: Samuel Estates
• Best Business for Innovation: Young London
• Best Business for International Trade: SLE Ltd
• Best Business for Training and Development: Independent mindbodysoul
• South London’s Favourite Business: Bar 61
• Best Business for Sustainability: Suzanne James Ltd
• Best New Business: Millmoll Ltd
• South London Entrepreneur of the Year: Christian McBride of Genuine Solutions

This press release is produced on behalf of South London Business Awards and South London Business by White Label Consultants.

About Young London (www.younglondon.co.uk)
Young London has two London hubs covering South and East London from Southwark and Canary Wharf and grown to now manage 400 properties across London (primarily within travel zones 1 and 2), housing 700 tenants.

Since its inception, Young London has questioned and interrogated all elements of the ‘traditional’ estate agency model and tries to look at everything afresh. Our underlying philosophy is to focus on relationships with landlords and tenants, rather than individual transactions, through delivering ‘amazing’ levels of customer service.

Run by accountants and surveyors, all of Young London’s rental property is also fully managed, providing landlords and tenants with the security that their property will be exceptionally well maintained. From a central London location, Young London’s multiple award-winning team lets and manages property across the capital’s travel zones 1 and 2, typically renting from £250 per week upwards.

Young London is proud to be actively driving enhanced standards within the private rented sector and providing ‘amazing service’ is inherent in all we do; it’s reflected in our low void periods, the number of tenants and landlords who refer us and our high rate of tenancy renewals.

At Young London, we are proud of the awards we have won, and we strive to maintain our high standards; it’s how we provide the best service to our tenants and strong returns to our landlords.

Young London is also proud to be a founding firm of the SAFE agent consumer kitemark (www.safeagents.co.uk) highlighting the importance of Client Money Protection.

Contact Details:

Michael Oakes
Director of Communications, Young Group

128 Webber Street
London
SE1 0QL

020 7593 3300

This release was published on openPR.